


When The War Is Over

by fade_like_starlight



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dumbledore's Army, Epilogue, Eulogies, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Goodbyes, Inspired by Music, Memorials, Offstage Character Death, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, both canon and headcanon, but still a little sad, in my world Lavender lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 01:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7993552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fade_like_starlight/pseuds/fade_like_starlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A week after the battle, Neville Longbottom goes home, and takes Luna Lovegood with him. Two hours later, and Dumbledore's Army have joined them.</p><p> </p><p>xxx<br/>originally written late 2007</p>
            </blockquote>





	When The War Is Over

**Author's Note:**

> Title and lyrics from Cold Chisel's 'When The War Is Over.' 
> 
> This is a purely self indulgent epilogue for my dear DA.

_When the war is over, got to get away_  
Pack my bag to no place in no time no day  
You and I we used each other's shoulder  
Still so young but somehow so much older  
How can I go home and not get blown away 

 

A week after the battle, Neville Longbottom goes home. Minerva McGonagall gathers them all, students, teachers, parents and various hangers-on, staying at Hogwarts and helping to rebuild. She thanks them for their efforts, but says that she and the Ministry need time to assess the damage, and that the rest of them need a hard-earned holiday. In reality, they're all getting under her feet and in her way, she tells Assistant Headmistress Pomona Sprout and Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt in confidence.

So Neville goes home, and takes Luna Lovegood with him. Gran is still in St Mungos, terrorizing the junior Healers. They've told Neville she'll make a recovery, even if her movements will be hampered slightly. Neville doesn't believe them - Gran will of course make a full recovery, and call the Healers ninnies and halfwits the whole time. Luna's father died in Azkaban, and the Lovegood family home was destroyed during 'the adventure', as she puts it. Luna is philosophical about her father's death, just as Neville suspected she would be. 'After all, he's with my mother now, and I'll see them again,' she says over toast and tea.

Neville thinks he should go and visit his parents at some stage, but it's quite comfortable sitting on his grandmother's patio, drinking tea with Luna and not thinking about anything in particular. Within an hour or so, there's a knock on his door, and Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas are there. 'I went home, but it doesn't feel right,' Dean says, slipping into a seat next to Luna while slipping his hand in hers. Seamus sits, a bag of unidentified bottles at his feet, and helps himself to toast.

'Mum's off at work at the hospital,' he says. 'It's too quiet at home.'

Dean still has the wand he claimed during the battle. Luna takes it and waves it, a gentle shower of gold sparks raining down. 'This is quite good,' she says. 'It feels creative. It likes you.'

'Where did you learn wandcraft?' Seamus asks, and Luna smiles.

'I think I'll ask Mr Ollivander if he wants help,' she says, 'when he reopens the shop.'

Neville's coin warms in his pocket, and the other three automatically reach for theirs, too.

'Hannah's here,' Neville says.

'Michael's with Lavender,' Seamus says, rising to open the gate.

'Parvati and Padma, too,' Dean tells him.

'And Ginny,' Luna says. 'I'll make more toast.'

Neville lifts his wand and Summons more chairs from the garden shed. It feels wonderful to do simple magic, spells that don't hurt anyone or bring harm. He's even grown weary of Healing people and repairing statues and stone walls.

Seamus returns from the front yard with Hannah Abbott, Parvati and Padma Patil and Ginny Weasley following. Behind them, Lavender Brown limps with the help of Michael Corner, and behind _them_ , Ernie McMillan is grinning at Justin Finch-Fletchley, who is looking more tanned and rumpled than any of them have ever seen him.

'Hey, Justin!' Neville calls happily. 'Welcome back!'

'Heard a rumour you'd taken over Hogwarts,' Justin said. 'Sorry I missed all the fun - after Mother heard what was happening, she decided to pack me off to her cousins' estate in Spain.'

Dean looks slightly put out by this, nonetheless, he rises and shakes Justin's hand. Justin sobers, says 'If I'd known how to find you, I swear -'

'It's fine,' Dean says, and Neville knows that it is. 'Just make sure the Spanish estate is free for our first year reunion party, right?'

'Oh, I'll bet there's a wedding or two before then,' Seamus says, looking pointedly at Michael and Lavender's tangled fingers.

Once, Lavender would have retaliated at Seamus, but now she just smiles peacefully and squeezes Michael's hand. Her scars are still raw, but amazingly, other than giving her the name and floo-address of a good magical beautician for the unfortunately hairy side effect, the Healers pronounced her healthy and well, if a little tender.

They fall into silence. Hannah smiles at Neville, and her foot twines around his under the table. Seamus winks at Padma across the patio, and she twists her hair around her finger, pouting her lips just slightly. Dean pulls out his ever-present sketchbook and draws Ginny and Luna, letting Lavender read their palms.

Parvati asks where the tea things are, and Neville escorts her to the kitchen. She returns bearing tea, sandwiches, and a rather large bottle of champagne.

'I thought maybe we should toast properly,' she says. 'Terry, and Susan.'

'Colin,' Neville adds. 'Anthony. All the others.'

'Neville, may I?' Padma asks, gesturing to the daffodils by the patio.

He nods, and she picks a dozen flowers, transfiguring them into elegant champagne flutes.

'Where are Harry, Ron and Hermione?' Michael asks, looking at Ginny. It's the first time he's acknowledged her relationship with Harry, and Ginny gives him a soft smile in thanks.

'I thought perhaps just us, for now,' Parvati says hesitantly. 'We can call them over later, but it felt...'

'I agree,' says Ginny. 'This should just be us,' and that settles it.

Parvati offers the bottle to Neville, and he pours, carefully. They each take a glass, unsure of what to say.

Luna begins.

'Goodbye, Terry,' she says. 'Thank you for returning my cloak in third year. You were very kind to me, and I won't forget it. You were very brave this year, too, and we will miss you.'

Neville blinks back tears, but it doesn't matter, because suddenly, they are all blinking back tears.

Hannah doesn't even try to hide hers as she lifts her glass. 'Goodbye, Suze,' she says. 'I'm going to miss staying up till all hours with you, copying your homework and gossiping. You're like my sister, babe, and I can't believe you're not here with me. You were a Hufflepuff to the end, Suze, and I love you.'

'Merlin, Anthony,' Michael says, his voice rough. 'Thank you, for this year, and the six before it. Thanks for being a mate, for being there -- you and Terry both, we - well, we swore we wouldn't back down, and you didn't. I know you believed in what we did, and I know you knew the risks, so I can't regret it. But I'll miss you. Goodbye, Anthony. Goodbye, Terry.'

'I want to know where your camera is, Colin,' Ginny says, and Seamus lets out a choked laugh. 'I want to know what the last picture you took was, because I bet it'll show you looking danger right in the eye. You always did that, and I'm glad I had the chance to know you. You didn't deserve to die the way you did, but I know that's the only way you would have wanted it. Goodbye, Colin.'

They drink as they go around the table, naming friends and family and even enemies as they remember Snape. Neville reflects that they are possibly a little drunk. The girls have stuck with the seemingly bottomless champagne, but Seamus gleefully brings out a bottle of Firewhiskey and offers it round, and the boys are grateful. They toast and laugh and cry, and after Ginny remembers a witch Neville didn't even know - Professor Lupin's wife - Ginny says 'Give me that,' and snatches the bottle from Ernie.

As the sky darkens and a chill sets in, they move inside. Hannah and Michael take over the kitchen, Hannah a natural cook and Michael an only child with a single working mother, and the others retreat to the living room.

'So where is The Boy Who Finally Won, anyway?' Parvati asks Ginny as she wraps herself in a blanket. The morning after the battle, Harry had quietly spoken to Neville, then Luna, and then disappeared. If the Weasleys and Hermione know where he is - and Neville is sure they do - they're certainly not telling any of the reporters who want to speak to him.

'He's at my brother's,' Ginny admits. 'Bill and Fleur,' she says to Dean and Luna. 'My brother is a cursebreaker, and Hermione needed some help with, a, a project. Lifting an enchantment. They're staying there, it's highly protected and very secluded.'

'It's where we stayed,' Dean tells the others. 'After we left the Malfoy place. I never thought much of Fleur during fourth year, thought she was a bit of a bitch, but she turned out alright. Great cook.'

Michael and Hannah bring in heaped bowls of steaming pasta. 'It's not much,' Michael says. 'Really, Longbottom, you're the hero of the wizarding world and you can't keep your cupboards stocked?'

'Oh, shut up,' Neville says, finding a few bottles of wine. They eat, scattered around Neville's living room, and talk turns to the future.

Michael and Lavender are going to her parents' pub in Brighton. His mother, a Daily Prophet journalist, was killed early in the year, and he doesn't have anywhere else to be, nor does he want to leave Lavender.

The Patil girls are going to India, to visit family. To everybody's surprise - or perhaps no-one's - Seamus announces he's going with them. Parvati rolls her eyes as Padma kisses him.

'Worst secret romance ever,' Hannah teases.

Dean says he's going to talk to Professor McGonagall about finishing seventh year. He and Justin make plans to visit her in the next week or so. 'We'll be in the same year,' Luna says delightedly.

'I think I'm going to stay right here,' Neville says. 'At least until Gran comes back, then I don't know.'

'Maybe I'll bring my father round for dinner. He'd love you meet you,' Hannah says wickedly, and Neville blushes.

'I always thought Daddy and I would go adventuring this summer,' Luna says. 'I don't know what I'll do now.'

'You can stay here as long as you want,' Neville offers automatically.

'Or with us,' Dean says. 'My sisters would love you.'

Ginny disappears for a few minutes, and when she returns, she has Harry by the hand, and Ron and Hermione behind her. They greet everyone happily, and exchange hugs and handshakes, before Ron helps himself to the pasta and a glass of Firewhiskey.

'Excellent,' he says, 'I'm starving.'

'Ron, we just had dinner,' Hermione says affectionately, as Harry pours a glass of wine for her and a Firewhiskey for himself. They find seats, and Neville points his wand to the fireplace and lights it. The room is filled with a smoky glow and he asks, 'So what's next for you, Hermione?'

'Oh,' she says, and her cheeks blush pink. 'Ron and I are heading to Australia. My parents are - they spent the year there, with family. I thought it was safer.'

'I'm going to hang out with my three month old godson,' Harry says proudly and defiantly. Ginny smiles, says, 'He is utterly adorable, really, if you like squashy babies with blue hair.'

Lavender wants to see a photo, and Harry pulls one out of a leathery pouch around his neck. They pass it around, Lavender cooing and Michael grinning at her.

'So we're all going separate ways, now,' Luna says sadly. Ernie pats her shoulder as Padma reaches over and hugs her.

'We'll just have to keep in touch,' he says practically. 'I hear Justin has a Spanish estate we can holiday at.'

'It's not mine,' Justin protests. 'But maybe I can ask.'

'Why don't we just do this?' Neville asks, gesturing around the room.

Parvati nods. 'We can Apparate back once or twice a month.'

'Hogsmeade weekends,' Ginny says, grinning at Harry.

'And we don't always have to take over Neville's place,' Lavender says. 'My parents would love to have everyone stay.'

Silence falls again, and they watch the flames until Hannah speaks up.

'So, we know where we're all going, but... now the war is over - what do we _do_ now?'

Neville grins and takes her hand. 'Anything we want.'

_the end_


End file.
